Evergrande raises US$144 million as it sells down stake in HengTen Networks

Name: The Evergrande theme park left derelict in China’s Jiangsu province
Uploaded: 2021-11-09T06:52:34.000Z
Duration: 2 min 35 s
Description: The Evergrande theme park left derelict in China’s Jiangsu province

World’s most indebted developer, which at one point owned a majority stake in HengTen, has reduced its holding over the course of this year

Evergrande has US$308 billion in total liabilities and is facing a series of payment deadlines

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Unfinished flats at China Evergrande Group’s Health Valley development on the outskirts of Nanjing. Photo: Bloomberg

Chad Bray

Published: 2:52pm, 9 Nov 2021Updated: 10:54pm, 9 Nov 2021

Embattled property developer China Evergrande Group raised about HK$1.12 billion (US$144 million) by further selling down its stake in internet company HengTen Networks Group as it faces a cascading series of interest payments on its offshore debt.

Evergrande sold 530 million shares in a series of sales since November 4, reducing its stake in Hong Kong-based HengTen from 26.55 per cent to 20.82 per cent, according to regulatory filings with the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The world’s most indebted developer, Evergrande held a majority stake in HengTen as recently as January, but has significantly reduced its stake in recent months as part of a series of assets sales to try to manage its 1.97 trillion yuan (US$308 billion) in total liabilities.

HengTen’s other big shareholders include its executive chairman Ke Liming and Tencent Holdings.

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The Evergrande theme park left derelict in China’s Jiangsu province

HengTen’s shares are down sharply this year, losing about HK$132 billion in market capitalisation since February 17 when it hit its highest market cap in nearly a decade. The company’s shares closed 4.9 per cent higher at HK$2.15 on Tuesday following the Evergrande share sale.

Disclosure of the share sales comes as Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that some holders of offshore debt issued by an Evergrande unit had not received coupon payments due November 6.